Okami

Video games are often created for a person's enjoyment and a boredom buster of some sort. But that was so only at the time of Space Invaders and Pong. Today, people are looking for video games that offer story, graphical advantage, playability and innovation. Unfortunately, most games aren't original enough to offer this. But Okami offers this and more.

Okami is a video game for the PS2, developed by Clover Studios (of Viewtiful Joe fame) and published by Capcom. It's also slated for release on the Nintendo Wii, but I don't care about that machine. We're here to talk about Okami on the PS2.

Graphically, Okami is unique. It's crafted in a never-before used Sumi-e style animation, a popular Japanese painting style. It's also the first game to utilize all possible types of the style. It's originally developed for a photo realistic graphical styling, but the Sumi-e animation was better and more fitting at the game's original idea.

And the video game's concept was to restore life in the world of Ancient Japan. The story is really involving, like Final Fantasy VII. Its characters are the real turning point, with emotions and comments all said like they were real people. The most unique game play add-on was the Celestial Brush, which enables you to literally alter the environment around you, based on what Brush Technique you used. Add to that the extremely original mini games, special items and weapons, plus a speeding wolf, and the game play is sealed.

As for the controls and audio, they're excellently executed, the sound effects and music all inspired with a Japanese theme in each of them. The controls are neat and nicely done, without all the fumbling.

All in all, Okami is a very excellent game. An almost perfect one, too, if it hadn't been for the extreme easiness of the game.